Achieving more productive meetings with Japanese and American participants

Kenichiro Hayashi is sitting in yet another meeting with the division’s management team, made up of both Japanese and Americans.  He looks at his watch.  Three of the American associates are heatedly debating, but Kenichiro lost the thread of the conversation at least five minutes ago.  He wonders why, if they have such big differences in opinion, they didn’t meet beforehand to iron them out rather than subject everyone else to this embarrassing display.  Besides, he has something that he wants to say, but no one has bothered to ask his opinion, and he can’t get a word in edgewise.

Susan Jasinski is sitting in yet another meeting with the  division’s management team, made up of both Japanese and Americans.  Yet again the Japanese seem to be sitting back, not saying anything.  Why don’t they tell us what they are thinking?  It’s so frustrating to not know what’s on their minds.  Why can’t they speak up with their opinions, rather than leaving all the talking to us?  And, most importantly, why can’t they tell us when they don’t understand?  Last time the group had a meeting three hours were spent discussing the new budget.  After the meeting, Inohara-san had come up to her and asked the meaning of a crucial word.  If he hadn’t understood that, he probably hadn’t understood anything in the presentation, which meant the whole thing had been a waste of time!

Meetings are probably the most common activity in companies, but also the most dreaded.  When conducted ineffectively, they can be exhausting time-wasters.  However, the open communication of information that meetings facilitate is absolutely essential to the proper functioning of a company, division, department, or work team, so companies eliminate meetings at their peril.

Even in a mono-cultural environment, meetings have many pitfalls.  When Japanese and Americans have meetings together, the potential problems multiply.  Differences in language, communication style, and cultural assumptions about the role and purpose of meetings can lead to unsatisfying results.  In some Japanese affiliated companies, this leads Japanese and Americans give up on joint meetings and decide to meet separately.  This can be extremely damaging to the company environment and to the group’s effectiveness. 

Currently, the biggest challenge for Japanese-affiliated companies operating in North America is to localize management and effectively incorporate locally-hired employees into the company’s decision-making processes.  In order for that to happen, Japanese and Americans need to be able to have effective meetings together.  If they cannot do that, and continue to meet separately or not at all, true integration is impossible.  The following paragraphs explore some of the common perceptual gaps between Americans and Japanese concerning meetings.  These are the gaps that need to be bridged in order for cross-cultural meetings to be effective.

What is the purpose of a meeting?

To Americans, a meeting is a place where people come together to discuss ideas, hash things out, and reach a decision.  The pros and cons of all proposals are subjected to debate and discussion, leading to a group consensus on the direction to go forward.

Japanese look at meetings somewhat differently.  While they also debate and discuss ideas, typically this is not done in the meeting.  That is because the process of discussing and debating involves the public airing of differences of opinion.  In the case of debate, it also means that someone is publicly shown to win, while someone else is publicly shown to concede or compromise. Having such events transpire in front of everyone’s eyes is culturally uncomfortable for Japanese, because it causes individuals to lose face and disrupts the solidarity of the group.

As an alternative to group discussion, Japanese engage in one-on-one consensus-building discussions, referred to as nemawashi.  The word nemawashi is actually originally from the world of Japanese gardening, and refers to a technique for transplanting trees.  Japanese gardeners discovered that uprooting a tree and transplanting it suddenly can cause it to go into shock and the tree to die.  They found that spreading the process out over several days, digging up one root at a time, made a more gradual change that was easier for the tree to adjust to.  In business, in the same way that the gardener would take time dealing with each root, one spends time dealing with each person who is involved in a decision.  Given the consensus nature of Japanese decision-making, that can be a fair number of people. 

The nemawashi interaction involves approaching each individual whose agreement is needed for the proposal to go forward.  It would happen in a one-on-one way, either in a specially scheduled meeting or in some cases as something brought up over a meal or golf.  The person advocating the proposal would explain the idea, attempting to get the person he is meeting with on the bandwagon.  Any input that person has into how to adjust the proposal in order to make it more likely to prevail would also be duly noted and incorporated as much as possible.

By approaching each decision-maker in this way, the proposal advocate gradually gets everyone on the same page.  All questions and issues have been vetted in the one-on-one conversations.  Thus, when the proposal reaches the meeting stage, there is no need for an extended debate.  The meeting becomes a formalization of the decision that has already been agreed to by the decision-makers.

The nemawashi custom causes two typical problems when Japanese and Americans work together:

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Americans left out of nemawashi.  Often, even without consciously realize it, Japanese automatically launch into nemawashi mode prior to a meeting.  As a result, they come to a meeting already having reached a common understanding.  If Americans are included in this process it’s fine, but often Japanese neglect to include them as objects of nemawashi activity.  Then, when Americans come to the meeting table prepared to discuss and debate, they wonder why their Japanese colleagues have already made up their minds.  This is extremely puzzling to Americans, and makes them feel left out.

• Key recommendation for Japanese to address this problem:  Make sure that you include Americans in pre-meeting discussions, even casual ones.  It’s important to exchange opinions with Americans frequently.

• Key recommendation for Americans to address this problem:  Seek out your Japanese colleagues on a casual basis to sound out their views on various subjects, or even to just ask “what’s new?” or “is there anything going on I should know about?”  This can be in the hallway, during a coffee break, at lunch, or over drinks or dinner.  The more opportunities for relaxed, informal communication you create with Japanese colleagues, the more you can get yourself included in the nemawashi loop.

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Americans do not do nemawashi before meeting.  When Americans are trying to advance a proposed idea, they may not realize that nemawashi is the best way to approach key Japanese decision-makers.  Instead, they tend to wait until the meeting, springing the idea on Japanese colleagues then.  Although this is comfortable for Americans, who typically have no difficulty reacting immediately to new suggestions and information, it can make Japanese extremely uncomfortable.  First of all, important Japanese decision-makers would expect to have been informally informed about a new idea, and may feel resentful that they were not consulted with before the meeting.  Second, Japanese may have difficulty quickly processing information that is presented in English, particularly if new concepts and vocabulary are involved, or if much of the explanation is done orally.  As a result, they will not necessarily absorb enough to be able to immediately launch into a meaningful discussion.  This will keep them from wanting to reach a decision during the meeting.  They will tend to want to have another meeting later.  Or if the American participants  push a decision through they may later find that the Japanese weren’t really on board, which leads to it being reversed or altered later.

• Key recommendation for Americans to address this problem: Forget the idea of adding drama to your presentation by keeping everything under wraps beforehand.  Japanese hate surprises (even good ones) and will react more positively if you let them in beforehand on what you are thinking.  Distributing copies of your overheads or other materials to Japanese colleagues beforehand is also helpful because it gives them time to study and absorb it.  Even better, share your ideas with Japanese while they are still in the formative stage, and incorporate their comments and suggestions before you finalize your proposal and presentation materials.  This will give Japanese colleagues a sense of ownership and involvement in your idea, making them more favorably disposed toward it.

• Key recommendation for Japanese to address this problem: Ask your American colleagues for a preview of what will be discussed in the meeting.  Encourage your American colleagues to do nemawashi, offering concrete suggestions of who to approach and how to frame the conversations.

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How do people communicate their opinions?

Americans believe that everyone should have their own opinion and be able to communicate it clearly and persuasively.  We take it for granted that this is how everyone operates, and our sayings such as “speak up for yourself” and “put your cards on the table” show that we value this behavior. 

In contrast, Japanese tend to be more reticent about expressing their personal opinions, preferring to wait to see what the rest of the group thinks.  The open display of contrasting opinions, central to the American concepts of discussion and debate, tends to be uncomfortable for Japanese because it can lead to loss of face or damage to interpersonal relations.  As a result, Japanese often keep their opinions to themselves in an open meeting setting.

Further, Americans are often unaware of when Japanese colleagues have lost the thread of the conversation.  This can easily happen when difficult vocabulary is used or when there is a digression.  For a Japanese person it is embarrassing to show everyone else that they do not understand what is being said, so he will be more likely to sit back than to speak up and ask the group to help him understand what is being said.  Furthermore, Japanese often fear that stopping the group discussion for an explanation will slow things down, and they are reluctant to inconvenience others in that way.

Another factor behind the Japanese tendency to remain quiet in meetings is the difference in conversation pace and use of silence.  Americans tend to talk quickly, interrupt each other, and leave little silent “dead space” in meetings.  The more passionate we are about the topic being debated, the faster the pace and the more overlapping of words that occurs.  In contrast, Japanese speak at a much slower pace and avoid interrupting others.  In a typical discussion, Japanese will wait until one person has finished talking and there is a silent space before starting to speak.  When Japanese meet with Americans, their attempts to participate are stymied because those silent spaces never occur.  Just as a Japanese is opening his mouth to say something, someone else jumps in and starts speaking.  As a result, often Japanese leave meetings feeling that they were not able to give their input.

• Key recommendation for Americans to address this problem: Consciously slow down the pace of the discussion to make it easier to follow.  Frequently summarize key points, using a whiteboard wherever possible, so that Japanese can keep on track with the conversation.  Allow silent spaces to last a moment longer than usual — you may find that this makes your Japanese colleagues more comfortable getting into the conversation.  If participation from the  Japanese is still insufficient, ask individual Japanese participants directly for their comments.

• Key recommendation for Japanese to address this problem:  If you have lost the thread of the conversation, don’t hesitate to stop the discussion and ask for a recap.  Your American colleagues want to make sure that you understand, but they won’t know when you are lost unless you tell them.  Thus, it’s important to signal them when the conversation has become too convoluted for you to follow.  Do not consider an admission of your confusion to be embarrassing — in many cases other American participants will also appreciate clarification (Americans don’t always understand each other perfectly!)   A common American saying is “There’s no such thing as a stupid question,” so Americans are unlikely to criticize your questions.  It’s also important for you to forcefully insert yourself into the conversation when you want to make a point.  Be poised to jump in with your comment the moment that someone else finishes speaking — you need to start getting ready while they are still talking.  Think of yourself like a runner on the starting block waiting for the starter’s gun to go off, because if you hesitate even a moment someone else will have already started speaking.  Being aggressive in this way is more culturally acceptable in the U.S. than it is in Japan.

For more on how to make your cross-cultural meetings effective, get a copy of our free bilingual ebook here.